The Record Summer

The Record Summer, born by the name Bret Rodysill, is one of my favorite finds that I’ve made during my time as a music blogger. Previous music of his that I’ve posted was wildly popular, as his indie rock/pop sound is gentle and sweet, all the while maintaining impressive musical qualities. The Record Summer has just released four brand new tracks, and these are just as great as his others, though “Revenge” is darker than anything else I’ve heard of his in the past. “Little Fires” and “Malaise 28” sound like classic Record Summer, and “The Morning” is even brighter than most of the tunes I’ve heard from him. Enjoy!

Welcome to the 5th Artist Picks feature. To refresh your memories, let me recap what this feature entails. We are asking people, be they artists, listeners, or fans, what they would do if they were stranded on an island with an iPod that held only 10 songs. Which songs would they pick and why? Up to bat: Bret Rodysill, better known in the music world as The Record Summer.

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Reading back through this, there are more contemporary, and sometimes even cheezy or overwrought songs on this list than I might have expected. But when I really thought about which songs would make me okay, if truly stranded on a desert island–the things that have the strongest memories, heartbreaks, and summers that were, well, great fucking summers–these were the songs I’d personally most like to listen to for better or worse if I had nothing else, and that was the question I was asked. These are the songs that could put me somewhere in the world if I was nowhere in the world.

One January I was sitting in this bar around Brick Lane in London, where there are all these curry houses and rock clubs, and this song came on. I went up to the DJ, asked him what it was, and afterward I was playing it for weeks. That guitar riff is so simple and shrill, but works so well with the melody. It’s a great example of a song with very few changes that sounds bigger. Shows the power of melody, I suppose. I included this song because it always pulls me out of where I am and just makes me want to move around ridiculously, which seems okay in the context of the song. Just Youtube the video and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Plus the lead singer looks a little like Rick Astley. Just saying.

This was an easy one for me. I’ve always loved this song because it’s absolutely sinister, like everything is on the verge of going wrong, like someone just looked across the room at someone he knows he shouldn’t screw, but he will, and she knows it too. It’s about the good parts of the dark parts. There’s something to be said for those parts. The title of the album, “Let it Bleed,” is fitting; sometimes you just have to let go, even if it’s really, really going to hurt later.

This may appear to be an odd choice, and it is, but I couldn’t do without it. An older friend of mine got me into these guys early in high school, and I really started to dive in deep around the time I got my driver’s license. My birthday is at the end of May, so it was perfect–I got my license, and I chose to use it by dicking around with a friend all summer in the car during the hours when I wasn’t at my job at another friend’s pizza restaurant. These were a lot of hours. The Low End Theory was on constantly in the background. Oh, and by the way, this was in Minnesota, the whitest place on earth (according to Chris Rock). He’s probably right. Everyone lost their fucking minds when they heard us pulling up to a stoplight. But we weren’t blaring the bass or anything. We just loved the music.

I chose this for two reasons: (1) because it’s a great song to remember how a simple two piece can be devastating and (2) because I remember hearing them play out at Coney Island a couple of years ago, and when Jack White ripped into this, it was probably the best live display of letting yourself run as a performer I’ve ever seen. Something like when he played Son House’s “Death Letter” at the Grammys and just lost it. You see Quentin Tarentino standing up in the crowd thinking, “He does with music what I try to do with movies.” I normally play and write pretty restrained music, but it’s great to know I could rip the strings off my guitar if I wanted to. I’d just never be able to do it nearly as well as Jack White.

Surprised? I’m not. I’m not saying Will Smith is a good musician, or really even a musician at all, but this song came out when I was eight years old, and holds a certain place for me off in the distance. It always reminds me of times when I didn’t have to worry, as if everything were alright because nothing that went wrong could possibly be my fault, as if I was too young and stupid to know any better, and at the time I was. There’s nothing wrong with pleading ignorance every once in a while, and that’s in a way what this song is for me; I’ll always plead ignorance on this one. This song is a guilty pleasure, and I find nothing wrong with that.

After I had moved to New York and started college, I went to Thanksgiving at this girl’s house in Connecticut. It was wild and strange–her older brother and sister came in drunk the night I got there, and the sister threw a high heel at the brother and split his nose open. The girl was leaving for some work-related thing a few days later, and was preparing for that, so I felt slightly on my own, and everything was just all over the place around me. But, I remember the second day I was there, in that bizarre afternoon pause before you go eat the Thanksgiving meal, she and I were sitting in her study and she put this song on. It was so mysterious to me for some reason, just the sound of it. It made sense. I felt like everything around me was mysterious. It confirmed something fundamental in my mind, and I always still put it on when I want to have some reason to open my eyes up a little at what’s going on.

Mostly to remind me of vocals–the impact of a good vocal break. This is clearly a hip hop song, and most of it is pretty linear, but there’s this pre-chorus (“can’t drive me out of my mind”) where he just kills it, and when I was a young kid sitting upstairs with a collection of three tapes–this, the Top Gun soundtrack, and Roxette’s Joyride (yeah)–I could not get over it. I sang along over and over. I still sing along with it.

The main riff throughout this song just cuts into you like knives. It’s raw and unrestrained. It’s absolutely wild. That’s what I love about it. The guitar tone is about as exposed as it could be. You can hear every little crack in it, and it works. When I record electric guitar tracks for my next record, I’m going to try to go for this tone, exactly, as I’ve always loved it. It just sounds how an electric guitar should sound.
9. Kreuzberg–Bloc Party

I can’t think of a more beautiful song. I never expected to say that about a Bloc Party song, but it’s true. Every time I listen to it, I get uncontrollably sad, and I like that for some reason. Maybe it’s because sadness is an extremely strong emotion for me, definitely stronger than anything close to happiness. But I’m alright with that, as awful as it is. The song sounds like the season’s changing and you’re getting ready for one hell of a winter to come. I had broken up with the first girl I was probably in love with around when I first heard this song, and I related it to that, to the sadness stemming from that, which may have been an obvious reference in retrospect, but still, it was a perfect metaphor for what was coming. And, as it turns out, I was right. That next year was a shitty year.

This is such an abnormal song. There are all kinds of Eastern elements in it, these bends and sighs, and it’s fitting for the subject matter. We’re all always sighing when we’re growing up, always getting over something. In fact, I think I’m still growing up, still bending, still sighing, still getting over something. This song is probably meant to memorialize the specific time and place of that experience–growing up in suburbia–but it sweeps wider. We’re all still growing up in one way or another.

Earlier this week I recommended that people in New York City go see The Record Summer at CMJ. I also asked if anybody wanted to do a guest live review on the site. So today I’m hosting a guest review by Georgeos Kazilas. Thank you to Georgeos for going and supporting a Sunset in the Rearview-backed artist and for providing us all with a little visual and review!

I arrived at The Living Room at 11:30 and walked upstairs to Googie’s Lounge and sat in the back of the small room while I waited for The Record Summer to start. The room was decorated with green Christmas lights and the crowd sat around small tables scattered throughout the floor. At first glance the overall setting seemed intimate and serene enough to complement the soft, smooth sounding vocals of Bret Rodysill. However, once the show began, the venue was the only aspect that worked against the band’s performance. Unfortunately, the loud upbeat blasting of Hall and Oats and Human League from downstairs drowned out the melodic instrumentals and robbed me of the same emotional experience I had when I listened to their album, Race to the Bottom.

Nevertheless, the band’s talent and execution was still impressive. They came out and played my personal favorite “Drum Machine” beautifully. The vocals were just as good as the album advertised, and the acoustic guitar was harmoniously played with the the violinist Hilary Davis. As the show went on, I couldn’t help but think how good the show would’ve been if it wasn’t so loud downstairs. Bret Rodysill displayed his ability to switch from guitar to piano and Hilary Davis’ violin sounded like the perfect compliment to the Rodysill’s vocals. They ended with ever so soothing “An Enormous Anger Grows in Brooklyn” and “Put You Out,” which left me wanting more. Hopefully next time they’ll play in a more private venue.

To any readers of Sunset in the Rearview living in or near New York – I highly recommend you pay attention. This week marks the annual CMJ Showcase. There are live shows all around the city, and I’ve got one in particular that deserves special recognition! The Record Summer, which has garnered incredibly positive reviews from readers of Sunset in the Rearview, will be playing at the show!

This should be an incredible show. If anybody wants to go and take pictures/write an informal review for Sunset in the Rearview, contact me! Info is on the Contact tab. Full credit will be given! Have fun, New York!

EDIT: CONTEST HAS CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO BRYCE AND BRYAN FOR WINNING FREE COPIES OF A THE RECORD SUMMER CD!

I’ve done two posts on The Record Summer here on Sunset, and both times the songs have topped the charts on Hype Machine. For great reason, people have been loving this music.

Care for a beautiful hard copy of this amazing album by Bret Rodysill’s The Record Summer? Sunset is giving away TWO copies of Race to the Bottom. To enter, leave a comment with your name, email, and favorite post on Sunset recently and become a Fan of Sunset on Facebook. This contest is open to residents of the US only (apologies). Two winners will be randomly chosen on Saturday, September 18th at NOON (Eastern Time).

The last time I posted The Record Summer on Sunset, I got spectacular feedback. His song “An Enormous Anger Grows in Brooklyn” blew the crowds away. And it’s so easy to understand why. His voice is like the cure to the common cold – long-awaited, in demand, and has the power to heal. So that’s why I’ve decided to present you all with some more music from The Record Summer today. It’s a Sunday, many of us might be feeling the aches and pains from last night’s adventures, and what better way to cure our bodies than with some soothing tunes from Bret Rodysill, better known as The Record Summer.

If you ask me, this is a perfect song for a Sunday. Lets me unwind from the week with my feet up and enjoy the sunshine. I guess you can’t expect much less from a band called The Record Summer. To be honest, I’m having to write this post in advance, a couple days before it will be posted, because I know I wont be around to blog this weekend. It makes me anticipate a weekend, a relaxing time in the sun when I can close my eyes and think about nothing more than my natural surroundings.

The Record Summer reminds me a bit of a Nick Drake, a Sufjan Stevens, a Joshua Radin…all favorites of mine. I may have a new favorite! Welcome to my heart, Bret Rodysill and The Record Summer. Please be good to me and keep creating beautiful music.

Bret Rodysill, frontman of The Record Summer, uses a rotating roster of musical experts to complete his band. In his career as a musician, he once spent time collaborating with Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend. He is now signed to Catlick Records and Race to the Bottom, premiered June 15, 2010, was his debut album release under this label.